In Another Lifetime
by Ada15
Summary: Cole asks something else of the avatars, something that might guarantee him another shot at Phoebe even if he doesn't get to see it.


This story is set during the fifth season at first, of course. It's a different take on changing the past and the alternate realities idea. Cole isn't quite as insane in this story as he was in the show so I'm going with what if he wasn't completely insane when the Avatars came looking for him and Paige didn't try and vanquish him again?

This story will most likely split off into two stories. One, set in season seven when the girls first meet the Avatars and one set in the alternate reality season three.

I don't own Charmed.

* * *

_"Understand, Cole, these powers are not meant to be used for personal vendettas. They're meant to be used with others like us. To shape a future we control."_

"Oh, I understand very well indeed. And believe me, I'm all for it. But I need to take care of something first and to do that I need unlimited powers."

"What would it do, if I changed the past? Not rewound time and make this future so it didn't exist. What if I went back to a certain point and changed one or two things? What would happen then?" Cole paced. He'd thought a lot about this already. He wasn't like Phoebe. He couldn't simply move on and be alright. She had been his reason for living for too long. "Would it change this future or make a new one, separate from ours?"

"There are theories that it would create an alternate reality from our own, yes," the Avatar said hesitantly.

"Okay, I'll join you, on two conditions. One, I need to speak with someone...not of this time."

"And the other?" He asked warily, no doubt wishing that he did not need Cole.

"I want you to make me forget. I can't simply move on, not anymore. I have nothing left without her. I need to not remember."

"Why do you wish to do this?" The avatar asked. "If this theory proves true, you will not be able to live in this reality you've created. You will not get to know it."

"The deal is this," Cole said, not answering the question right away. "You get what you want in this reality and maybe in some other one Phoebe and I get to be happy. And maybe I need to know that before I forget. Now, what do you say?"

* * *

Cole stood in the doorway of her room for several moments, watching her sleep. He knew how she would react when she saw him and he wasn't sure if it was a good thing or not. This may not have been a good idea.

Except...he needed to do this. He couldn't deal with closing his eyes and seeing the look on Phoebe's face from the last time they had met. Or hear her words again.

There really was nothing left, at least according to her. He didn't truly understand how she could feel nothing. He could admit it, he had done some pretty crazy things as of late. Still, once upon a time she had sworn she'd love him no matter what, she'd agreed to marry him, even lied to her sisters and Leo for him. If she had loved him enough to do all that, he didn't understand how...

"You just don't get it, Cole, do you? I thought you were dead and I felt nothing. No pain, no love, nothing. I'm free. And when we do vanquish you, and we will, I'll never look back."

Those words threatened to drive him over the edge but they did, for a little bit, bring him back to reality...painfully. It was enough for him to agree to the avatars request and when he'd gained their power, it had actually cleared his mind further.

It was like going back months to when Phoebe and her sisters had vanquished him. She had still kept him going after he'd found his way out of the wasteland. Well, more accurately, denial had kept him going.

Phoebe had given up on him a long while ago. She'd given him up when she had chosen her sisters when he'd been possessed by the Source.

She stirred and turned over and what he'd been trying to put off for a few minutes more happened as she opened her eyes.

"Cole?" She said when she opened her eyes and sat up. He watched her smile and the way her eyes lit up before she was out of bed and before he could stop her she was in his arms.

After a moment, he returned the hug and buried his head in her hair, closing his eyes. Opening his eyes, he could see her hair, her blonde hair and the reality sank in that this was not his Phoebe, not anymore. His Phoebe would never willingly get close to him like this.

Pulling back, Cole held her by her arms. She must have seen something in his expression because she frowned.

"Cole, what's wrong? Did something happen?" He smiled at her, ran a hand through her hair.

"I need you to do something for me."

"Okay," she said without hesitation. The faith in her eyes was still there, the trust.

"This is going to sound insane…"

* * *

"Have you done what you intended?" One of them had been waiting for Cole when he came back to his apartment, back in 2003.

"Yes." He wasn't sure if it worked or not, wasn't sure if Phoebe believed him. He hoped she had. He turned.

"Now, you do what you promised.

* * *

_April, 2001_

Phoebe sat in her bed after Cole left. He wasn't sure what to believe now. At first, after he'd started to talk, she'd briefly considered that it was some trick, that it wasn't really Cole.

She knew Cole, though. She'd known it was him. It was Cole, just not her Cole. The things that he'd told her had been vague and she wasn't sure what to make of them. Three warnings…

She jumped when he shimmered into her room.

"Cole?" She asked, staring at him. He frowned at her and sat down.

"What's wrong?" She met his eyes and knew that this one was her Cole. The difference wasn't really in their appearance, it was in their eyes.

"Nothing," she said, hugging him, her mind still on what the other one had told her and what it meant.

* * *

_March, 2003_

His apartment was abandoned. She hadn't seen him in over a month. She'd thought after the last time they'd met that it wouldn't be the last time and with how he'd become she'd been afraid of what he'd do.

Cole was gone. Phoebe stood in the middle of his apartment. She remembered the last words she'd spoken to him. She guessed that he'd really left this time. She'd finally pushed him away enough to leave.

It was a good thing. Maybe they wouldn't have to worry about him anymore.

_"I guess it just wasn't meant to be…"_ Even as she said the words, they sounded wrong and she couldn't get rid of this feeling in her gut.

Shaking her head, she walked towards the elevator with a sigh. She was over all this. She was over him. This was a good thing.


End file.
